An unknown person pretending to be a police officer has allegedly swindled former home affairs minister Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana out of N$200 000.
The suspect allegedly posed as a chief inspector from Kongola in the Zambezi region.
Iivula-Ithana served as a member of parliament for 30 years.
Some of those years included being a deputy minister, full minister in different portfolios, and ordinary member of parliament.
The former Swapo secretary general has declined to comment on the matter.
She did not respond to text messages sent to her cellphone yesterday.
Khomas crime investigations head deputy commissioner Frederick Ndjadila confirmed the incident to The Namibian on Friday.
He said it took place on 8 July.
“It was reported under Klein Windhoek. It’s a fraud case. It is alleged that it happened while she was at home. Since it involved a lot of money, we cannot say much. We are confirming the incident.
“It is under investigations and for sure we are forwarding it to commercial crime, which is entrusted with investigating cases beyond N$100 000,” he said.
Iivula-Ithana is the fifth Swapo politician to lose money through fraud.
The Namibian in 2024 reported that former sport minister Agnes Tjongarero was scammed out of N$711 200.
Others who have fallen victim to scammers are speaker of the National Assembly Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila and minister of defence and veterans affairs Frans Kapofi, who have been scammed of N$159 000 and N$200 000, respectively.
National police spokesperson deputy commissioner Kauna Shikwambi has in the past warned Namibians to be extremely cautious, saying victims sometimes transfer money to scammers unknowingly, or due to fear and panic.
“When you receive a call from an unknown caller who is asking about your finances and banking details, do not entertain such a caller – not even when they say you are a winner, because that is exactly where everything starts,” she said.
“When you lend them an ear and they notice your interest, they will convince you. Therefore, do not provide your details to anyone nor make any payments to unknown people,” she said.
The Namibian earlier this year reported that Namibian commercial banks have no policies in place to refund clients’ money once they are defrauded.
This is despite the Bank of Namibia revealing that Namibians lose over N$6 million to fraudsters every month.
The central bank says Namibians are currently losing more than N$200 000 to fraud every day.
According to the bank’s 2025 annual report, scammers siphoned N$73.9 million from the national payment system in the last year alone.
This is a N$19-million increase from 2024.
